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Loral CyberStar has inked a deal to provide continued service to former broadband satellite customers of Intellicom, a division of SoftNet Systems (http://www.softnet.com) Inc. that was shut down in April. Loral CyberStar, a division of Loral Space & Communications, said it will provide Internet access to those customers via its WorldCast access service.

In the interactive television race, you have to be in it to win it. A philosophy apparently followed by OpenTV - the iTV company announced today it surpassed 25 million set-top box deployments at the end of March. For the quarter ended March 31, OpenTV reported middleware deployments in excess of 2 million, which marks the sixth consecutive quarter the company has posted gains of more than 2 mi...

Copyright 2002 The Deal L.L.C. The Daily Deal…05/21/2002 From LexisNexis ICG Communications Inc., the Englewood, Colo.-based broadband provider, received bankruptcy court approval late Monday, for a reorganization plan that will allow it to emerge from Chapter 11 as a publicly listed company in 18 months.

As the economic turmoil in the telecom industry drags on, more and more companies are screaming "Do over" under the protective blanket of Chapter 11. After exhausting all other avenues, Metromedia Fiber Network (http://www.mfn.com) Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors. "We are committed to taking the painful but necessary steps to ensure stability and long-term success fo...

Traditionally, technology platforms from SkyStream Networks have enabled satellite video delivery for broadcasters and enterprises, but the company is aiming a new video services router at the service provider and carrier markets. Telcos, especially, are looking to include video service in their voice-data packages, but they'll need to do it while keeping operating and capital costs low over th...

Looking to rake in more customers and gain some ground on rival Cisco Systems Inc., Juniper Networks Inc. has made a $740 million play for Unisphere Networks Inc. The IP infrastructure company will fork over $375 million in cash and 36.5 million shares to Unisphere parent Siemens. Juniper's stock closed Friday, May 17 at $9.

Let's make a broadband deal. Qwest Communications International Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are upping the ante in the broadband war by extending their long-standing partnership. Qwest will provide a fiber-optic broadband network for the MSN Broadband Internet access service. Under the terms of the "long-term" contract, MSN will be the first nationwide user of the Qwest Broadband Access Aggregatio...

Cable operators are being bombarded with choices for billing companies, operational support systems and workforce management software, but Broadband Services Inc. thinks it's carved a new software niche with MapVantage, an intelligent mapping, network asset management and data storage solution. MapVantage is based on Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, but adds a secure, Web-based o...

Rather than passing out pink slips to unsuspecting employees, BellSouth Corp. is instituting a voluntary separation plan to pare its work force by as many as 5,000. Citing the economy, company officials say the cuts will affect white-collar and non-management positions. The Communications Workers of America will oversee the non-management reductions.

Hoping to penetrate business parks and the multi-tenant unit sector for commercial-class services, Luminous Networks has launched its E-Series PacketWave metro access platform. Based on the evolving Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) technology, Luminous' new platform is designed to handle Ethernet-based applications while supporting TDM voice and circuit services.

Generating revenue is the name of the game, and General Bandwidth Inc. contends its Converged Service Delivery application will enable the delivery of converged voice and data services to small- and medium-sized businesses over existing infrastructure. The application is fueled by the company's G6 Central Office Platform, which aggregates and grooms voice and data traffic originating from voice...

Copyright 2002 King Communications Group Energy Daily…05/20/2002 From LexisNexis Calling it a major step toward expanding broadband service, a Sempra Energy subsidiary announced last week it has successfully installed a fiber optic cable conduit for commercial use through a Fort Worth, Texas, natural gas pipeline while it was in operation.

Just days after CEO Konrad Hilbers said he was washing his hands of Napster, the one-time ruler of peer-to-peer online music file swapping has closed a merger deal with Bertelsmann. The $8 million deal, which will wipe out most of Napster's debt, brings Hilbers and other key Napster executives back to the company.

Interactive television company Concero Inc. has been put on notice its stock could be delisted from the Nasdaq May 24. The company received a Nasdaq Staff Determination yesterday. The notice calls for Concero's stock to be delisted unless the company meets the minimun bid requirement and market value of public float outlined in the Marketplace Rules 4450 (a)(2) and 4450 (a)(5).

When it comes to the success of 3G, interoperability may be the name of the game. Rivals Siemens and Nokia are teaming to ensure that the companies' future smart phones can seemlessly communicate with one another. Siemens will license Nokia's Series 60 software platform and implement the software in Symbian OS-based smart phones.